From the files of “they’ve never done that before” comes today’s post, a look at 1953’s Affair with a Stranger, perhaps among the most mis-titled films of all time. Regular readers will know that we usually start each post with a quote or tagline from the movie of the day. Ominously, there is no such thing for today’s post.
Affair with a Stranger stars Jean Simmons and Victor Mature as partners in a marriage in crisis, or at least that’s what they’d like us to think. Though there is an affair here, in typical 1950’s fashion it’s rather glossed over, with most of the film being told via flashback- by which we learn much of the couple’s history.
Victor Mature is waiter/playwright Bill Blakeley and Jean Simmons is his wife Carolyn Parker. Nevermind the dramatic age difference as that was (and is) an original Hollywood double-standard that jumps out at you from the get go. Bill’s a playwright who can’t get anything going who ultimately slips his play among the papers of one of his dining patrons and ultimately finds success with a big hit.
Bill gets into trouble with his leading lady which is the “affair” referenced in the title. From the lens of the 50s it’s made to seem a trifling little thing, but it “is” nonetheless. Carolyn runs all over the place trying to track him down and ultimately finds him at the end and all is well- as she drops a lipstick stained handkerchief in a garbage can, presumably to signify that all is now well again.
Booked as a comedy, it’s hard to find too much in Affair with a Stranger that’s overly humorous. Perhaps closest is a scene where Carolyn is prepping for her first date with Bill during which she tears her dress. It’s hard to imagine that even then this got more than a wry smile. Otherwise you can (if you squint) tell where the laughs were intended to be, just don’t look too hard.
Affair with a Stranger‘s biggest flaw, however, is something that perhaps shouldn’t be held against it. Father Time is perpetually undefeated and he’s beaten poor Simmons and Mature to within an inch of their lives. The film is just too 1950s to hold up today. The women (especially Carolyn) are too subservient, overly compliant and simply too superficial to be believed in today’s world.
For what it is worth, both Victor Mature and Jean Simmons are quite good, though Simmons isn’t pushed that hard by the material. In typical 50s fashion the story centers more on the man but Mature actually makes the material a bit more enjoyable – especially a scene where he makes a soup out of kitchen condiments.
It’s a rather hard ask to see Affair with a Stranger but it you’re a completist, especially of some relatively early Jean Simmons you’ll want to check this one off your list if you get the chance.
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8MJi1Y2GL2U[/embedyt]